**Episode 14**
Helen briefly woke at dawn, just before daybreak, but deliberately pulled her thick cotton comforter over her head. All so she could fall back asleep. Thanks to that, she slept in until around noon and inevitably skipped breakfast. The servants must have come to wake her once or twice, but either she had fallen into a deep sleep after waking that single time before dawn, or she had heard them and pretended not to. Of course, the latter was a possibility, but it was truly not in her memory.
Enjoying a warm cup of coffee and freshly prepared desserts while reading quietly, instead of a hearty breakfast, was not so bad either. It was just as she was about to put the last remaining macaron into her mouth, harboring the wish that the day might pass just like this, that Rozie intruded upon Helen’s plans to spend the entire day in peace.
The door opened carefully, without a sound. But the turning of the rusted doorknob, worn by the passage of time, was unavoidable.
Through the slight gap in the door, Helen spotted bright brown hair. Below it, she could also see the hem of a dress decorated with frills at its bottom. There was no doubt that the one who had opened the door was Rozie.
“There’s no need to knock. Just come in.”
Helen set the macaron back on its plate and regarded Rozie, who entered as if she were one with the door.
Rozie smiled broadly and, before sitting across from Helen, followed her sister’s example in picking out a random book. Only after sitting in the chair did she realize that the book she had chosen contained unbelievably tedious content. The title, *On the Great History of the Empire*, had been a sign of that from the very start.
“The book you’re reading looks more boring, though. Are you all right with it?”
The single line of the title *What Is the Truth of Life?* looked far more tedious than *On the Great History of the Empire*. Rozie pushed away the book she had brought with her and leaned her body slightly further forward to speak with her sister.
“It’s not a book that gives answers about life, so I suppose it can look that way.”
“I didn’t know you liked that kind of book, Sister.”
“Is it strange?”
“Of course not! I just realized that my sister is this kind of person.”
Then, Helen laid the book she had been reading face down on the table.
“What kind of person am I?”
Rozie was quite flustered by the voice that had dropped considerably lower than before. In the eyes that had been casually scanning the pages, a cold chill like frost had settled. This was the Helen she had encountered on the evening when the first family dinner with all the true family members of Count Platini was ruined.
“Sister…….”
Resting her chin on her palm, Helen looked at her half-sister. It was rather comical to see her wearing an innocent expression so unbecoming of her father on a face that took after Count Platini. How could she fail to resemble that temperament enough to call the daughter who shared his blood worthless and cast her out? Thinking that perhaps she was merely suppressing it while living, a smirk escaped Helen.
“Why are you so surprised? Anyone watching would think I’m about to devour you. I asked because I was truly curious; if you don’t want to answer, then don’t. Unlike someone, I’m not the forceful type.”
Realizing that the “someone” Helen spoke of was none other than her and their father, Count Platini, Rozie forced a smile to linger at her lips.
Rozie knew of the cold attitude the Count showed Helen, and the reason Helen despised the Count.
She had known to some extent that her half-sister was staying in the northern regions for recuperation. She had believed they would one day live together once Helen recovered. Being the sole recipient of her parents’ love was pleasant, but at times, she had envied the warmth of a sister.
When she heard that the Count had sent a letter to Helen, she had swelled with anticipation. Now that she finally had a sister to live with under one roof, there would be nothing left to envy.
And then, a week ago, she had gone to a salon with the Countess to buy a dress for Helen. Just as she was fully savoring the joy of leaving the mansion with her mother after a long while and personally choosing a gift for her sister, she was seized by guilt.
“Your sister did not leave because she was ill. She was born after killing my mother, hated by your father, and shoved somewhere far away in the north.”
The mother she had believed to be infinitely kind despised Helen, calling her a “wench of unparalleled vulgarity.”
That was when she realized. That the position of the young lady of Platini, basking in abundant parental love, had not originally been hers. If the mother who had given birth to Helen had lived, that seat would surely have belonged to her half-sister.
Therefore, Rozie, who fully understood Helen’s position, quickly changed the subject.
“Father left on a business trip today. He won’t be back for at least three days.”
Count Platini had departed without even having breakfast. It was to attend an important meeting regarding a new business he had recently started.
Thinking there could be no more welcome news than that, Helen was just about to pick up her overturned book to read again. At that moment, the maid who had combed Helen’s hair last night flung the bedroom door wide open. The maid’s complexion was deathly pale. Moreover, she seemed to have run up the stairs, for her breath came slightly ragged. Realizing her error in opening the door without knocking, the maid hurriedly bowed her head.
“Miss, I am sorry! Ah, Miss Rozie is here as well. Please forgive my rudeness! I was so surprised—no, it was so urgent—but truly, so surprised……!”
“I understand. I shall forgive you, so tell me what has happened. As long as it is not word that Father’s carriage met with trouble on his trip and he is returning unavoidably.”
At that, the maid waved both hands with a look of great surprise.
“Oh, heavens! It is not such trivial news. It is truly astonishing news, so you mustn’t be shocked when you hear it!”
Helen nodded to show she understood. What news could it be that the maid had run here in one breath and could not even catch it? While Helen wondered, the maid took a deep breath and steadied herself. Only after steeling her heart did the maid finally utter the truly astonishing news.
“His Majesty the Emperor has arrived!”
Silence followed the news. The maid who had spoken this shocking word felt relief, but Helen and Rozie stood with their mouths agape, struggling to gather their thoughts.
“……Who did you say has come?”
When Helen asked carefully, the maid briefly explained the circumstances of her first sighting of the Emperor.
“I can hardly believe it myself, but the imperial carriage is sitting right in front of the mansion, and His Majesty the Emperor alighted from it. And now…….”
“You mean he has entered the mansion?”
This time, the maid nodded.
“Do you know who he has come to see?”
Count Platini had left early enough to skip breakfast. The only people remaining in the mansion now were the Countess, Helen, and Rozie.
It did not seem the Emperor had come to meet Count Platini. If he had intended to meet him, he would have caught the Count yesterday at the palace party as he was returning to the mansion. The Emperor was never a man of leisure.
Nor did it seem he had come to meet the Countess, as there was no prior connection between the Countess and the Emperor. Then what remained…… Rozie? Helen swallowed dryly.
“Yes. That is why he has come for you, Miss! His Majesty the Emperor has come here precisely because of you, Miss!”
Miss……?
Helen and Rozie looked at each other simultaneously with puzzled expressions. As it happened, there were two young ladies of Count Platini’s household together in this room at that very moment.
The maid corrected herself while smoothing her hair.
“Ah…… Miss Helen. So you must hurry to prepare to meet His Majesty! You must change into a new dress, and, um, redo your hair as well.”
Before going to greet the Emperor, the Countess had told the maid to bring Helen down. By now, the Emperor would be warming himself with hot tea in the drawing room, so they had to hurry with her preparations.
Realizing there was no time, the maid opened the wardrobe. Inside, dresses that Rozie had prepared for Helen were lined up in rows.
The maid was at a loss before the wardrobe packed with splendid dresses. She had no way of knowing which dress one should wear when meeting the Emperor. It seemed she would indeed have to leave the choice to the person in question.
The maid approached Helen, who had not moved an inch from her spot, and placed a hand on her arm.
“Miss, you must choose a dress first.”
“Wait a moment! Why has His Majesty come to see me?”
“Well…… I do not know either.”
“Good heavens.”
Calling out to God anxiously in her heart, Helen was led by the maid gripping her left arm and by Rozie, who had somehow come to stand before the wardrobe selecting a dress, to prepare for her audience with the Emperor.
***
**Sibello**
Lucas Drifon was a man with sharp instincts. He had learned this when he first saw her as Violet. No one had come looking for the imperial princess abandoned in darkness immediately after her birth. After all, it was clear that anyone who sought the imperial princess—left as the Emperor’s sole blemish—would be marked by the Emperor’s gaze.
Amidst all that, he had come looking for Violet himself. It had been part of a plan to depose the mad Emperor and take the throne himself for the empire’s prosperity.
He had made the imperial princess walk the path of death as the sole blemish that could expose the Emperor. By publicly revealing that the same emperor had kept a perfectly sane imperial princess imprisoned in a dark tower for nearly nineteen years, he intended to show all under heaven that this was a human unfit to be emperor.
She possessed the blue irises that symbolized the imperial family, and there were those who could prove her identity as the imperial princess; thus, the plan would succeed if only she were safely rescued from the tower.
Lucas had sent Carlisle Everett, the Duke known as the Bloody Duke on the battlefield, to the tower. There had been no need to send someone of his stature merely to rescue an imperial princess born of a handmaiden. Yet she was undeniably a clear member of the imperial family, so sending Carlisle was not entirely unreasonable either.
He had intended to let her enjoy everything she should naturally have enjoyed as an imperial princess—after revealing the sole blemish that was her and dragging the emperor down, that is.
After rescuing Violet, she turned out to be far smarter than he had imagined. Unbelievably so, according to the testimony of the knight who had watched over her. According to him, Violet had read nothing but fairy tales her entire life. And those were fairy tales with certain happy endings, such as a princess locked in a castle waiting for a prince upon a white horse.
“There must be more things that could become His Majesty the Emperor’s disgrace besides me. Secret funds diverted from the national treasury rather than the imperial privy purse, for instance. Or, the person who severed my mother’s breath would suffice as well.”
“I looked into it before rescuing you, but unfortunately, the one who killed your mother is already dead.”
“The truth does not matter. It is enough to make people believe that His Majesty the Emperor is a truly wicked man. So reveal, along with those things, that the handmaiden’s daughter—the imperial princess—is alive.”
Those were the first words Violet spoke to Lucas after leaving the tower. It was hard to believe this scheme had been devised by someone who had read only fairy tales. He had even suspected that Carlisle might have told her to say this if she met the Crown Prince, but it did not seem to be the case.
As Violet had said, they discovered traces of the Emperor having prepared secret funds of substantial size in addition to his share of the privy purse. The one who had killed the imperial princess’s mother had paid the price by dying of illness in prison. Though one had killed the sinner who murdered the imperial princess’s mother, a dead man tells no tales.
Public sentiment, which had already begun to turn away little by little due to massive tax exploitation, became severe to the point of being irreversible after the Emperor’s disgrace was revealed. It had reached the point where people called not only for the Emperor’s abdication but for his execution. Before long, even nobles who had been on intimate terms with the Emperor turned their backs. They feared being caught having helped the Emperor prepare his personal secret funds and suffering punishment for it.
Lucas, who had been Crown Prince at the time, ascended to the next throne without spilling a single drop of blood with his own hands.
Everything had gone according to plan, and everything was thanks to his lovely younger sister.
***
Helen hesitated before the door, standing with only that door between herself and the drawing room. Stamping her feet anxiously, she harbored the obvious thought that opening the door and entering would mean meeting the Emperor.
“My lady, have we perhaps met before?”
The words the Emperor had spoken when they encountered each other at the imperial palace yesterday kept coming to mind. Moreover, though darkness had settled, he had called Helen “Violet” as she sat on a swing. Had Lucas, with his sharp instincts, noticed?
“I’m anxious. So anxious.”
Though she had insisted that they had met for the first time yesterday, she doubted Lucas had truly set aside his suspicions there. But the Lucas she knew was not such a careless man.
Helen stamped her feet a while longer before reluctantly opening the door and stepping into the drawing room. Afraid she would see Lucas if she raised her head, she deeply bowed in greeting the very moment she set foot inside.
“I greet His Majesty the Emperor.”
“Do sit.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
She sat across from him, averting her gaze as much as possible to avoid making eye contact with Lucas. The tea that had gone cold while she was changing and having her hair dressed welcomed Helen. Just as she lifted the teacup to her lips.
“Fortunately, it seems you returned safely yesterday.”
At Lucas’s kind inquiry, she was forced to set the teacup back down.
“Thanks to you, I had a pleasant experience.”
“Is that so? It did not appear that way to me. You see, your hasty flight after encountering me yesterday was quite amusing.”
“Your Majesty, that is…….”
Helen trailed off and met Lucas’s eyes straight on. The Emperor had not even granted her leave before she had abandoned him and gone; thus, even if he rebuked her, she would have to accept it. But she had suddenly encountered someone she had considered her true family for a year. Choked with longing to the point that her breath caught in her throat, she simply could not bear to keep looking at him. She had missed him terribly, but every time she saw him, she was reminded of Violet. Especially the eyes with their blue irises resembled Violet’s exactly. The slightly drooping outer corners of his eyes gave a calm yet warm impression.
Still, seeing her brother’s face after so long, she was so overjoyed it felt as though tears would come flooding forth at any moment.
When transparent moisture pooled in Helen’s eyes, Lucas spoke, quite flustered.
“Yes. It must have been surprising. But what shall we do? It seems there is something remaining that will surprise you even more.”